Women’s MMAEditor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.
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There always seems to be debate over the Greatest of All-Time in mixed martial arts. Most seem to believe Jon Jones leads the way, but I frequently hear other names floated out there. Georges St-Pierre is another popular choice, as is Khabib Nurmagomedov. Demetrious Johnson occasionally gets a mention, along with Fedor Emelianenko. I’m of the opinion that Jones tops the list, but I always believe healthy debate helps to reinforce my opinion or perhaps even change it.
Having said that, it seems like there is a consensus over the women’s GOAT, with Amanda Nunes being everyone’s choice. Should we all jump to that conclusion so quickly? Shouldn’t there at least be a debate to be had?
The most widely known name in women’s MMA is Ronda
Rousey. While no one will ever deny her impact on the sport as
a whole—it’s possible women still wouldn’t be in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship if it wasn’t for her—it feels
pretty definitive she isn’t the GOAT. Rousey’s rise came when her
skill level was so far ahead of the competition, and she never
faced much of a challenge throughout her title reign. However, once
the competition caught up with her, Rousey was unable to adjust and
got left behind.
Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Justino would be someone else to consider, as she decimated the majority of her competition over her long career. Her two losses came in her first career contest and to Nunes, both exceptionally forgivable setbacks. However, the featherweight division has also been devoid of quality competition throughout her run. That isn’t her fault—she has beaten almost everyone put in front of her—but it is something that still needs to be accounted for when we’re trying to discuss the nuances of identifying the GOAT.
There’s also Valentina Shevchenko. Given that she has two losses to Nunes, most tend to dismiss her from those talks. That’s a mistake. Shevchenko’s resume isn’t as clear-cut as those belonging to Nunes or “Cris Cyborg,” but there is undoubtedly a case to be made for her. Only looking at the losses to Nunes on paper would make it obvious that the Brazilian is the GOAT, but context can flip those on their heads. It is often forgotten that those contests were fought in Nunes’ natural weight class. When Shevchenko first signed with the UFC, the women’s flyweight division was nonexistent, leaving her to ply her trade at 135 pounds. Many tend to take Max Holloway’s second loss to Dustin Poirier with a grain of salt given that he was fighting outside of his weight class. I also remember countless talking heads noting that Conor McGregor was fighting outside of his weight class when he lost to Nate Diaz. Why wouldn’t we give Shevchenko the same luxury?
Beyond that, it’s not like the rematch between them was a distinct win for Nunes. Every official scorecard had it 48-47, two in favor of Nunes and one in favor of Shevchenko. However, that doesn’t relay just how close of a contest it was. Take a gander at the media scores on MMADecisions.com. Of the 22 scorecards submitted by the media, 10 were in favor of Nunes, 10 were in favor of Shevchenko and two were scored a draw. I don’t consider the fan scores on MMADecisions to be as reliable, but if one wants to put weight into that metric, Shevchenko held a clear advantage, with over 71% of those turning in scorecards favoring her. Again, I point out Shevchenko was fighting outside of her natural weight class.
In fact, Shevchenko’s UFC run in the women’s bantamweight division is about as impressive as it gets for someone who never claimed the title. Every single one of her four opponents held either the Strikeforce or the UFC women’s bantamweight championship at some point, with Nunes being the only one to whom she lost. Sarah Kaufman, Holly Holm and Julianna Pena form an impressive trio of opponents from a historical perspective. If one considers her second contest with Nunes to be in Shevchenko’s favor, that’s a list of four wins in the women’s bantamweight division that rivals anyone in history.
Then there’s Shevchenko’s stranglehold over the 125-pound weight class. The recordholder for most consecutive title defenses within a division is Shevchenko with seven. If you combine Nunes’ defenses between the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, she has just as many. Most would agree that women’s featherweight was a travesty of a division, so a reasonable argument could be made that Shevchenko’s seven wins were more impressive than Nunes’ were throughout their reigns. For instance, do Jessica Eye and Lauren Murphy really represent inferior competition in comparison to Felicia Spencer and Megan Anderson?
If one were to be of the belief that Shevchenko was the rightful winner in the second matchup with Nunes—and we’ve established there’s a case to be made—that means Shevchenko has avenged all her career MMA losses. She avenged her first career defeat to Liz Carmouche, and she avenged her loss to Alexa Grasso. Furthermore, the second fight of her trilogy with Grasso was officially a draw, but Shevchenko would have been the rightful winner had judge Michael Bell not turned in an egregiously bad 10-8 scorecard in the final round of their contest.
Beyond all that, remember how everyone made such a big deal about Jennifer Maia winning a single round against Shevchenko? She was so dominant for so long that it was a serious talking point when an opponent managed to take a single round from her. Plus, it was always Nunes who avoided a potential third fight with Shevchenko. I understand Nunes’ perspective—no need to take a third fight when she officially had wins in the other two—but she was the one who avoided it.
The reasons why Shevchenko doesn’t get much love fall on the side of fanciful. While some would consider Shevchenko a decision machine, she has never won consecutive decisions in her UFC career. Her personality hasn’t clicked with a lot of people, either, but that doesn’t matter in this discussion. Most entertaining or most impactful fighters? Sure, but not in GOAT talks.
If I haven’t convinced you yet that Shevchenko is the women’s GOAT—and I acknowledge this is a hard sell—give it a year or two. If Shevchenko can rack up wins over the likes of Manon Fiorot and maybe Erin Blanchfield and/or Natalia Silva, that would change the narrative, especially if Nunes stays retired. An extended second run as champion in a division considerably stronger than bantamweight might be just enough to make Shevchenko the women’s GOAT.
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